Joseph Palermino reviews Boston Neighborhoods
Right hand has Back Bay, left hand has South End and the North End is on the table!
Boston Real Estate is like a fine Wine!
While enjoying a fine wine with dinner recently, I considered how there are similarities between different Boston neighborhoods and specific wines. Is this a crazy analogy? I do not think so. There may be some disagreement as to which wines are more suggestive of certain neighborhoods but there is no doubt that wines are like neighborhoods and can share similar characteristics. Crazy? Let’s see. As a wine enthusiast, I would say let’s pick seven areas of Boston and match them with wines, explaining how the neighborhoods are like the wines and vice versa.
The seven areas will be Boston’s Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the North End (aka “Little Italy”), the South End, the Fenway, the Waterfront, and South Boston.
The appropriately matching wines, in my opinion, would be:
- Back Bay--- a red Bordeaux---a Cabernet Sauvignon.
- Beacon Hill---a Champagne--- a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
- The North End---a Barolo---a Nebbiolo.
- The South End---a red Burgundy----a Pinot Noir.
- The Fenway---an Argentine red Malbec.
- The Waterfront---an American red Zinfandel.
- South Boston---an Australian Shiraz.
Now, I am not a sommelier, and since I think of this as an entertaining “blog”, I do not want to get too esoteric in my explanations. Hence: I will now enumerate the analogies between these Boston neighborhoods and the wines I have matched to them. Before I do, I would like to acknowledge and thank Kevin Bryar of L’Espalier restaurant and Phil Richardson of the Palm Restaurant for sharing their wine expertise as well as their thoughts and suggestions on the relationship between wines and Boston’s real estate.
Boston’s Back Bay is sometimes referred to as “The Gold Coast”. It is “Blue Chip” real estate” with the famous Commonwealth Avenue boulevard, the gas street lamps of tranquil Marlborough Street, riverside Beacon Street and Newbury Street, considered Boston’s Rodeo Drive. Like a fine cabernet sauvignon, it is elegant, substantial, consistent, intense, leaves a lasting impression and generally appeals to everyone on some level. The real estate has little variation, though one could argue that the Grand Crus might be closest to the Public Garden!
Boston’s Beacon Hill has a storied past with a reputation as the ultimate in prestige, sophistication, luxury and expense. Picturesque Acorn Street, Louisburg Square, Chestnut Street, Mt. Vernon Street, and Charles Street…..need I say more? Beacon Street overlooking Boston’s fabled Boston Common……very impressive! And if you want to impress someone, well you offer them champagne. As a person who loves most champagne, I can state that some are better than others but I can seldom refuse a glass offered to me. The magic is there regardless. Walk the streets and gardens of “the Hill” and you feel that magical effervescence. Perhaps the “back” of the Hill is more suited to a non-vintage champagne and Louisburg Square more to a vintage, but the rich delights are there nevertheless!
Boston’s North End is actually our oldest neighborhood, although it is now regarded as an Italian neighborhood, or Little Italy. Take a newcomer to the North End and their senses are overwhelmed with sounds, sights, foods, cafes, restaurants, specialty food shops and the multiple aromas of Italian food. A Barolo wine floods the senses in a similar way….powerful, full-bodied, bold, robust. When you identify a flavor another replaces it. Like walking down Hanover Street and turning onto Richmond…a new array of stimuli. Many North End residents can’t imagine living anywhere else and many visitors can understand why. The North End is a neighborhood that covets its vivacity and vitality. Once called the King of Wines and the Wine of Kings, Barolo is a most age worthy wine that, like Boston’s Little Italy, once experienced will not be soon forgotten!
Boston’s South End has witnessed extreme changes since its development as one of the largest “intact” Victorian neighborhoods in the United States. Today’s South End is a Mecca for foodies, professionals, artists and boasts some of the finest architecture in Boston. By day and by night the South End is a magnet for those seeking a higher quality of life. With its “up and down” history, it resembles a pinot noir. As anyone who saw the film “Sideways” knows, pinot noirs are difficult wines to make because the grapes are not hardy and the wines are therefore inconsistent. But…when you taste a great Pinot Noir, you are spellbound! Pinot noirs are capable of bringing one to virtually transcendental states. They intrigue. So too does Boston’s South End!
Boston’s Fenway neighborhood is generally young, hip with a hotbed of musical institutions including the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, the Boston Conservatory, the Boston Symphony , the Boston Pops and, of course, Symphony Hall. Add the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and numerous colleges and you have the prolific seeds of our cultural future taking root. In fact, many of the areas students would argue that the Fenway area is an extremely fertile environment in which to nurture and develop their talents. Similarly, malbec is a grape from the Bordeaux region of France that does better in the soils of Argentina than it does in its native France. Argentine malbec is a very approachable wine with soft tannins and lots of dark berry fruits. Considering its quality, it is an amazing value and, like the Fenway area of Boston, it is very international…. truly a blend of the old world and the new!
To be continued...
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